We started our new school year last Monday! Yes, we started early. One of the benefits of homeschooling is that we can set our own schedule, and we like to take an extra week off for the little man’s birthday, so we start a week early too.

This is our third year homeschooling – I can hardly believe it! We still haven’t added Latin to our curriculum (Latin is a must for any well-rounded classical education) but we did add a precursor to logic in the form of Mindbenders puzzles from the critical thinking company. So far they are a hit. Actually, he liked the look of them so much that he started working his way through the book over the summer. I’m going to have to move up to the next book soon! Anyway, for any interested parties here is our list for this year:

math – Singapore Math 3A and 3B

language arts – MCT Island level

spelling – Spelling City

science – The Elements, plus classes at the Florida Aquarium

history – Story of the World 3

music – piano lessons

art – painting lessons and art history

logic – Mindbenders logic puzzles

foreign language – still looking for an affordable Spanish teacher

PE – karate (and maybe swim team in the spring)

I have my excel spreadsheet with our schedule broken down by day, with the assignments all laid out to finish on time by the end of the year. Of course, a lot can happen in the next 9 months – that is why I use a spreadsheet instead of a pen and paper, it is so much easier to adjust. But back to that benefit of homeschooling – we adjust our schedule to life, rather than trying to adjust life to fit a schedule.